Hey everyone,

So I wanted to explain my motivations for writing this story a little bit. As we're currently seeing Melendez in a bad place on the show and Lim trying to comfort him, I wanted to explore that type of situation and connect it to one of my previous stories.

Melendez arrived home from St. Bonaventure after a long day at work. He changed out of his work clothes and into casual attire before he drove over to Lim's house. Lim had been having a rough time with things lately: she had beaten a fatal respiratory virus, but as a result of the lethalness of the disease, she had spent a month and a half in the hospital and her lung function was still weak. Being a physician, Melendez knew how beating SARS would affect her physically in the long run: pulmonary fibrosis, a weakened immune system more susceptible to colds and flus, chronic fatigue, shortness of breath, and osteoporosis to name a few long-term side effects.

When Melendez arrived at Lim's house, he knocked on the door and waited a while before Lim answered. She looked like shit, but given the fact that she was still pretty weak, he wasn't surprised. She forced a smile and let Melendez into the house, "Hi Neil," she said softly.

"Hi Audrey," he went to kiss her, but Lim pulled away. Melendez would be lying if he didn't admit that it hurt a little bit.

"I, um…it's been a really long day and I'm just not really in the mood to cuddle," she admitted. Melendez nodded in understanding, but as he observed her more, he noticed things were different about her. Her eyes were reddened as if she had been crying; she had her arms crossed over her chest, almost like she was sending a message that she wanted to be closed off to the world. Melendez also noticed she was very tense compared to her usual relaxed demeanor, "Have you eaten dinner?" asked Lim.

Melendez shook his head, "No, I haven't. I was hoping, maybe, we could go out tonight," he laid his hands on her shoulders, to which Lim jumped a little.

"Out to eat?" she faked enthusiasm, "With all of those people? In the middle of January? Also known as cold and flu season?"

"Yes," Melendez confirmed, "Do you still feel too weak to go out?"

Lim rubbed her forearms with her hands, briefly glancing towards the inside of her right forearm; Melendez didn't fail to notice, "Neil, my immune system is still pretty fragile right now, and I'm really not supposed to be going outside without a mask. I'd like it better if we just stayed home. Please?" she looked him in the eyes with a look that gave away the fact that she was terrified to go outside.

"Okay," Melendez agreed. He walked over towards the kitchen and started to look through the cabinets and refrigerator, "Did you want me to make you something instead?"

"I'm not hungry, Neil," said Lim.

"Audrey, you need to eat. You've been living on hospital food since early December," Melendez said.

"I said I'm not fucking hungry, Neil!" Lim shouted and Melendez looked a little taken aback, "I mean…" Lim stuttered once she realized what she had done, "The meds make me nauseous sometimes."

Melendez nodded in understanding and stepped a little closer to her, "Is something bothering you, Audrey? You seem a little tense tonight."

"I'm fine, Neil," said Lim.

Melendez scowled a little. He had known Audrey for many years now and he knew she wasn't fine, "Audrey," Melendez lowered his register, "You know if something is bothering you, you can tell me, right?"

Lim's breath shook and she said, "Neil, I really don't want to talk about it. The quarantine is over, I lived, and I'm recovering. Can we please just move on from everything that happened?" Melendez could understand why Lim just wanted to move on from what happened; it had been a stressful event for everyone at St. Bonaventure and he couldn't imagine actually getting infected. He hesitated before he wrapped his arms around her, testing how she would react. He was relieved when she embraced him back, trembling a little in his arms as she inhaled his familiar and comforting scent, "Please stay with me tonight," she whispered softly.

"I'm not going anywhere," answered Melendez.

Later that night, Melendez changed into a spare pair of pajamas he had brought with him since he had had the feeling that Lim would want him to stay. She hated being alone at night anymore, even though she had been living on her own ever since her divorce. He crawled into bed next to her and Lim was sitting on the bed with her knees to her chest, her arms wrapped around her legs. Melendez laid his hand on her shoulder to let her know he was there and she jumped in surprise. She sharply turned to him and shouted, "What the hell, Neil! You can't just go sneaking up on me like that!"

"I'm sorry. I thought you heard me come in," said Melendez. This was her second outburst of the night.

Lim sighed and ran her hands through her hair, "I'm…I'm sorry. I was just thinking about…" she trailed off and started to hyperventilate a little.

"You were thinking about what, Audrey?" asked Melendez gently. Lim didn't hear his question; she had her own horror movie playing in her head, "Audrey!" Melendez called her name a little louder.

Lim snapped back into reality, "What?"

"Are you okay?" asked Melendez in concern.

Lim wasn't quite sure how to answer, but she knew that Melendez would ask her to talk about what she had been thinking about and she didn't want to relive the experience more than she already was, "Y-Yeah. I'm fine," she crawled under the covers, set the oxygen concentrator to the correct setting, and gave him a quick kiss on the cheek, "Good night, Neil."

"Good night, Audrey," said Melendez. Though he had the feeling they weren't going to get much sleep that night.

Melendez had been correct in his assumption as he was woken up by Lim's screaming at 3:00 in the morning. Melendez immediately bolted upright in bed and wrapped his arms around a sobbing Lim, "It's okay, Audrey. Ssh," he soothed.

"Oh, Neil, it was all happening to me again," she cried.

"What was happening to you?" asked Melendez calmly.

"The…the…I was sick again. Everyone was there. All of the patients that died, Morgan, Shaun…I couldn't breathe. The patients were taunting at me for living," Lim stuttered frantically.

"Audrey, it was a dream…" Melendez started to say.

"It was a pretty fucking vivid dream, Neil!" Lim raised her voice again, "And it wasn't a dream! It was a fucking nightmare!"

Melendez had no idea what to say or how to soothe her at this point. He had never seen Audrey like this before. She was always so calm and in control and now…hell, he didn't know what to think. But he was aware enough to know that Lim didn't need any soothing words right now; she just needed to feel his presence. He scooted closer to her and said, "Audrey, I'm going to hold you okay?"

Lim didn't respond at first, but soon allowed herself to be enveloped in his embrace, because right now, the only place she felt safe was in her boyfriend's arms.